About Van Kelly
Van Kelly started carving when he was 16 years old in shop class in High School. Van asked his shop teacher if he could carve instead of making the projects for that class. Van's teacher agreed, that is how he got started. Over the years he haas taken different types of carving classes. Bought his first set of tools at Silver Dollar City in 1980 and have never lost the love to carve. Van had a lot of help over the years and continue to take classes, as Van always says "you're never to old to keep learning". Many of Van's teachers have been Mike Shipley, Harold Enlow, John Engler and Steve Brown and they have become good friends over the years. Van does orders through word of mouth and his work can be found here on line, Silver Dollar City or Peter Engler's Designs.